Storage and transport device for plates

ABSTRACT

A device for storing and transporting painted plates, e.g. doors, by means of individual frames known as &#34;door bearers&#34; is described. The invention provides a transport device using one handler only while preventing damage to the transported plates comprising a tubular chassis (10) with rectangular basic frames (14) which may be telescopic in two mutually perpendicular horizontal directions, the corners of which are fitted with vertical posts (22) each pair of which bears possibly telescopic cross-members (26) parallel to transverse shanks (16) on which sit two vertical bars (12) to clamp a horizontal stack of vertically upright frames (36).

This is a continuation of co-pending application Ser. No. 07/761,978filed on Sep. 25, 1991 and now abandoned.

DESCRIPTION

This invention relates to a device for storing and transporting aplurality of painted doors or other plates, comprising substantiallyrectangular frames which are to be arranged in such a manner on thepossibly beaded end faces of the plates that their longer midlines coverthe longitudinal lines of the end faces and which are to be releasablyattached to the end faces by means of screws or the like.

The only known device of this type on the whole comprises only theframes known as "door bearers" which are placed with their longermidline horizontally one above the other, not only for storing thepainted doors but also for their transport, while the plates are placedhorizontally. In this arrangement, neither of the two stacks of frameshas any frame connections within itself, with the result that the framesare liable to slip out of place in relation to one another bothtransversely to the direction of travel when the vehicle transportingthem is negotiating a curve and in the direction of transport duringbraking or acceleration of the vehicle, and these movements could onlybe completely prevented by holding the plates on all sides. This problemis dealt with by employing a person to accompany the transport, whosesole task is to prevent the vertically stacked horizontally placedplates from shifting out of the stack.

The known device therefore has the disadvantage that one must eitheraccept the risk of the stack of plates slipping out of position, whichmay, for example, result in damage to the paintwork on the plates, orengage at least two handlers.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a devicefor the storage and transport of a plurality of plates, in particular ofpainted doors, which avoids this disadvantage and requires only onehandler and yet ensures that the transported plates will arriveundamaged at their destination.

This problem is solved according to the invention in a device of thetype described above by a tubular chassis comprising a plane rectangularbasic frame composed of two pairs of parallel, optionally telescopicshanks; a supported post at each corner of the basic frame; and twoparallel, optionally telescopic cross-members mounted on the upper endsof the posts, above the parallel transverse shanks of the basic frame,which shanks connect the longitudinal shanks; and by two vertical barsmounted on each cross-member to be displaceable and fixed thereon forclamping a horizontal row of frames which are attached to the plates andare placed upright on the cross-member.

The basic frame thus constructed provides the advantage that all theplates are now force-locked together by way of the frames which arescrewed to the plates and clamped together on the tubular chassis bymeans of the bars, so that the stack of plates will always hold togethereven during transport.

In a preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, thecross-members are longer than the transverse shanks of the basic frameand have free ends which may be arranged, for example, over wheel casesbetween which there is just sufficient room for the basic frame.Efficient use of space for the transport of the greatest possible numberof plates can thus be achieved even if the space underneath thecross-members is restricted laterally.

In a further development of the preferred embodiment, in which not onlythe longitudinal shanks of the basic frame but also its transverseshanks and accordingly also the cross-members are telescopic, so thatthe basic surface of the device can be adapted to the space available onthe floor of the transporting vehicle and the whole device together withthe transported doors can thereby be prevented from slipping out ofplace, the transverse shanks and the cross-members consist each of twotubes, a first and a second of identical profile, and of a third tube ofsimilar profile inserted in the aforesaid first and second tubes andarranged to be fixed in the first tube and longitudinally displaceablein the second tube; in addition, a fourth tube of identical profile,adapted in its length to the selected clear distance between the firstand second tube, may be arranged on the third tube between the first andsecond tube to prevent a step at the transition between the third andfirst or third and second tube which could interfere with the smoothdisplacement of the bars. When the length of the cross-members isaltered for adjusting the width of the device, the fourth tube is simplyshortened or replaced by a longer piece.

The invention is described in detail below with reference to thepreferred embodiment of the device according to the invention and itsfurther development illustrated by way of example in the drawing, inwhich

FIG. 1 shows the embodiment without doors viewed in perspective from therear to the centre,

FIG. 2 gives a perspective view from the rear to the right hand side ofthe embodiment with the doors in place,

FIG. 3 is a cut out view in perspective of the further development ofthe embodiment of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a detail view of connecting members and connecting pieces.

In the exemplary embodiment, the device according to the invention forthe storage and transport of a plurality of painted doors or otherplates consists mainly of a predominantly rectangular chassis 10 and twotimes two bars 12.

The chassis 10 is formed by rectangular tubes and comprises a plane,rectangular basic frame 14 composed of two U-shaped halves inserted oneinto the other and having two continuous, parallel transverse shanks 16and two subdivided parallel longitudinal shanks 18 which are telescopicand the length of which can be adjusted in each case by tightening ascrew provided with a hand lever 20. The size of the chassis is therebyadjustable to the height of the upright doors or, in other words, to thelength of the reclining doors placed edgeways.

Posts 22 of the chassis 10 are placed at the four corners formed by theshanks of the basic frame 14. Each of these posts is rigidly connectedto one part of the longitudinal shanks 18 by means of an oblique support24 of the chassis.

A cross-member 26 is mounted on each half of the basic frame 14, at theupper ends of the two associated posts 22, above the transverse shank 16carrying said posts and parallel to said shank. This cross-member islonger than the transverse shank 16, so that it projects with its twofree ends 28 beyond the basic frame 14. The two cross-members 26 arealso rectangular tubes.

Two slides 30 which are U-shaped in section sit astride each crossmember 26, each of which slides can be fixed in position by means of ascrew with hand lever 32 and each of which carries one of the two bars12 which are supported each by an upright triangular member 34. The twotriangular members 34 of the two slides 30 on each cross-member 26 aresituated outside the space which is to be kept free between the two bars12.

Since the width of each cross-member 26 measured horizontally,transversely to its longitudinal direction, is somewhat greater than thewidth, measured in the same direction, of the posts 22 carrying saidcross member, the two slides 30 can be pushed each over one of the twofree ends 28 of the cross-member so that the perpendicular distancebetween the two bars 12 is then equal to the length of the associatedtransverse shank 16 underneath the cross-member 26, and the section ofcross-member thereof situated between the two posts 22 can be fullyutilised for accomodating so called door bearers.

These door bearers 36 are substantially rectangular frames which are soarranged at the beaded end faces of the painted doors 38 (plates) whichare to be stored and in particular to be transported that their longermidlines cover the longitudinal lines of the end faces. The door bearers36 are releasably attached to the end faces of the doors 38 by means ofhandy screws 40.

The doors 38 which are to be stored in the chassis 10 and transportedwith the latter are placed in the upended position, with their longerend face carrying the hinge parts lying at the bottom, by placing thetwo door bearers 36 on each door upright on one of the two cross-members26. The door bearers 36 are placed close together on each cross-member26, whereupon they are clamped together as one unit by means of the twobars 12 which are moved up close to them, so that the door bearerscannot move in the longitudinal direction of the cross-member. Since thedoors 38 extend from above into the space between the two cross members26 on and in the basic frame 14 in such a manner that their verticallyextending end faces almost abut against the cross members, the doors arealso unable to move in the longitudinal direction of the longitudinalshanks 18 of the basic frame.

In a transport vehicle having a storage surface on which to place thebasic frame 14, with two wheel cases rising upwards from said surface atthe back of the sides, as is the case in delivery trucks, the chassis 10is placed on the said storage surface in such a manner that two ends 28of the cross-members lie above the wheel cases while the posts 22 aresituated between and close to the wheel cases.

The further development of the embodiment initially described differsfrom the latter, as shown in FIG. 3, in that the transverse shanks 116of the basic frame 114, which are in this case telescopic, and thecross-members 126 mounted in parallel above them, which are alsotelescopic, are interrupted in the left half of the chassis 110 alongequal medium lengths which are bridged over in each case by a connectingmember 142 of the chassis 110. Each connecting member 142 is fixed atone of its ends in the shorter section 116.1 or 126.1 of the transverseshank 116 or cross-member 126 and is longitudinally displaceable at itsother end in the longer section 116.2 or 126.2 of the transverse shank116 or cross-member 126. To make the narrower connecting member 142flush with the wider, similarly profiled sections of the transverseshank 116 or of the cross-member 126, a short connecting piece 144 isprovided to be mounted on the connecting member 142 between thesesections to fill the gap.

FIG. 3 shows a screw with a hand lever 132, similar to hand lever 32 ofFIGS. 1 and 2, provided in longer sections 116.2, 126.2 for fixingconnecting member 142 therein. FIG. 4 shows a detail of FIG. 3illustrating the mounting of piece 144 on member 142 between sections126.1 and 126.2 of cross-member 126.

I claim:
 1. A device for storing and transporting a plurality of uprightrectangular plates, characterized by a tubular chassis comprising aplane rectangular basic frame comprising two parallel longitudinalshanks and two parallel transverse shanks; further comprising asupported post at each corner of said basic frame; and comprising twoparallel cross-members mounted at the upper ends of said posts abovesaid transverse shanks; and further characterized by two pairs ofvertical bars, each bar of each of said paris being mounted on a slidedisplaceable on one of said cross-members and provided with means forfixing the position of said slide and of the vertical bar mountedthereon with respect to said one cross-member.
 2. Device according toclaim 1, characterised in that the cross-members are longer than thetransverse shanks of the basic frame and have free ends.
 3. Deviceaccording to claim 1, in which the transverse shanks and thecross-members are telescopic, characterized in that the transverseshanks and the cross-members are each comprised of two tubes, a firstand second, of identical profile and of a third tube of similar profileinserted in the aforesaid tubes, which third tube is fixed in the firsttube and arranged to be longitudinally displaceable in the second tube;and in that a fourth tube of identical profile adapted in length to theselected clear distance between the first and the second tube is to bearranged on the third tube, between the first and the second tube. 4.Device according to claim 2, in which the transverse shanks and thecross-members are telescopic, characterized in that the transverseshanks and the cross-members are each comprised of two tubes, a firstand second, of identical profile and of a third of similar profileinserted in the aforesaid tubes, which third tube is fixed in the firsttube and arranged to be longitudinally displaceable in the second tube;and in that a fourth tube of identical profile adapted in length to theselected clear distance between the first and the second tube is to bearranged on the third tube, between the first and the second tube. 5.Device according to claim 3, wherein the second tube is provided with ascrew with a hand lever fixing in position the third tube in said secondtube.